It’s the play that put Rider Nation on pause.
“That’s probably one of the craziest endings I’ve ever had,” Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Cody Fajardo told the media in a post-game scrum. “I just remember hitting that thing and the stadium was complete dead silence and I could just hear the echo of the iron.”
Looking for a touchdown to tie Winnipeg and send the CFL Western Final into overtime, Fajardo sent a bullet into the end zone. Instead of hitting the intended target, the ball crashed into the crossbar, ending the game and the season for the Riders.
“The crossbar is 80 per cent air, 20 per cent iron and I hit it,” said Fajardo, who played with two torn muscles in his oblique. “It’s a pretty sick feeling in my stomach.”
The Roughriders fell to the Blue Bombers 20-13.
Mere hours after the game, Fajardo apologized to fans on Twitter.
He tweeted, “I am sorry I let you down.”
Hundreds of replies from fans poured in, reassuring the quarterback that there were no hard feelings.
Saskatchewan has a history of disappointing defeats. While this loss is fresh on that long list, one fan said it doesn’t compare to the 13th man penalty that cost the team the 2009 Grey Cup or Ottawa’s game-winning catch in the 1976 championship.
“I know of at least three television sets that died in 1976 with Tony Gabriel’s reception,” he said. “Losing is an integral part; but if you can’t face losing, don’t play the game.”
The Roughriders cleaned out their lockers Monday morning. One day after the season-ending loss, head coach Craig Dickenson said, “the guys are still a little shell shocked.”
“It didn’t end the way we wanted it and there’s a lot of things you look back on and say if we’d done this differently or that differently, maybe the outcome is different,” Dickenson said, adding despite the loss, the team feels a sense of accomplishment making it to the Western Final.
“We talk about being mindful, living in the present and being grateful for what you do have,” Dickenson said. “It’s going to get tested these next few days, but I think we’re going to be alright.”
While the pain won’t go away in a day, running back William Powell is already focusing on the future: the 2020 Grey Cup in Regina.
“Everybody’s still disappointed, but at this point, it is what it is,” Powell said. “You have to look forward to next season.”